Mangaluru: Close on the heels of the district administration cracking the whip on overcrowding of the schools vehicles, the Dakshina Kannada District School Vehicle Drivers’ Association staged a protest in front of the DC’s office on Tuesday, June 28 opposing the guidelines laid down by the administration.
The protesters demanded withdrawal of cases slammed against school vehicles and relaxation of guidelines.
CITU District Secretary Sunil Kumar Bajal said that the organisation was not against the penalty and fines slammed on overcrowded school vehicles, but in the city even autos carrying merely four children and Omnis carrying eight children too have been fined without any proper reason.
“We agree that guidelines have to be in place, but there needs to be sense behind implementation of guidelines,” he said adding that there are several schools which do not allow school vehicles into the school premises, due to which children are dropped on the road. This too is dangerous and the administration has to act on this.
Taking on the colour coding rule, Bajal said that many private car owners have been using their cars to ferry kids. These individuals who eke out income by dropping and picking kids have been affected due to the colour coding rule that makes painting school vehicle yellow mandatory. Once the vehicle is painted yellow, they cannot use the vehicle for any other purpose.
“Instead, a yellow board can be put up stating ‘on school duty’. The colour coding must be done away with,” he said attacking the administration for unilateral deciding on rules and regulations without holding meetings with the stakeholders.
“It was the duty of the district administration to hold meeting with parents, school authorities and the vehicle owners/drivers to arrive at a decision,” he said.
